Your Perception allows you to notice fine details and alert you to danger. Perception covers all five senses, including sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
Most Perception checks are reactive, made in response to observable stimulus. Intentionally searching for something is a move action.
Creatures with the scent special quality have a +8 bonus on Perception checks made to detect a scent. Creatures with the tremorsense special quality have a +8 bonus on Perception checks against creatures touching the ground and automatically make any such checks within their range.
Notice Details: Perception is used to notice fine details in the environment. The DC to notice such details varies depending upon distance, the environment, and how noticeable the detail is. The following tables give a number of guidelines.
| Detail | DC |
|---|---|
| Hear the sound of battle | --10 |
| Notice the stench of rotting garbage | --10 |
| Detect the smell of smoke | 0 |
| Hear the details of a conversation | 0 |
| Notice a visible creature | 0 |
| Determine if food is spoiled | 5 |
| Hear the sound of a creature walking | 10 |
| Hear the details of a whispered conversation | 15 |
| Find the average concealed door | 15 |
| Hear the sound of a key being turned in a lock | 20 |
| Find the average secret door | 20 |
| Hear a bow being drawn | 25 |
| Sense a burrowing creature underneath you | 25 |
| Notice a pickpocket | Opposed by Sleight of Hand |
| Notice a creature using Stealth | Opposed by Stealth |
| Find a hidden trap | Varies by trap |
| Identify the powers of a potion through taste | 15 + the potion's caster level |
| Perception Modifiers | DC Modifier |
|---|---|
| Distance to the source, object, or creature | +1 per 10 feet |
| Through a closed door | +5 |
| Through a wall | +10 per foot of thickness |
| Favorable conditions | --2 |
| Unfavorable conditions | +2 |
| Terrible conditions | +5 |
| Creature making the check is distracted | +5 |
| Creature making the check is asleep | +10 |
| Creature or object is invisible | +20 |
Favorable and unfavorable conditions depend upon the sense being used to make the check. For example, bright light might decrease the DC of checks involving sight, while torchlight or moonlight might increase the DC. Background noise might increase a DC involving hearing, while competing odors might increase the DC of a check involving scent.
Terrible conditions are as for unfavorable conditions, but more extreme. For example, candlelight for DCs involving sight, a roaring dragon for DCs involving hearing, and an overpowering stench covering the area for DCs involving scent.
EDITORS NOTE: There is additional information in Ultimate Intrigue